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Homemade feeder

Hello everyone,

I am planning on making some contact feeders out of some plastic pails. The lids fit tight and they don`t leak when turned upside down. I was wondering how many holes should I put in the lid and how big should the holes be? The lids are 5½ inches square. The pails hold about 50 fluid ounces. I`ll be putting them over the inner cover which has a centered hole of about 4 inch diameter.

Also... what magic keeps the syrup from just running out and flooding the hive?

And finally, how long will it take the bees to empty one of these? (They will be used to feed nucs that I will get in early May.)

BTW... great forum. This is my first year and I will surely have many questions as I go along. This forum has a lot of experienced people and I like the response you give to newcomers.

My holes are all smaller that 1/32". I put between 3 and 30 depending on what I want to accomplish. A vacuum (plus a bit of surface tension) is what holds the syrup in the bucket, so leakproof is important. You may get some minor leakage from the sun's heating of the bucket. I place mine toward the front of the hive and tilt it slightly to the front. If it leaks, most of the syrup runs down the front of the hive instead of soaking the cluster.

michilin man ask:
how long will it take the bees to empty one of these?

tecumseh replies:
I think the three important variables are 1) existing size of cluster 2)proximity of feed container to cluster 3) number of holes.

a quart jar placed over a modest sized cluster here typically last from 4 to 5 days. on some jars I place 3 holes and some 5.

Thanks Tecumseh,

Existing size of cluster is a nucleus. I think its like 2 pounds of bees. The feeder will be above the cluster on the inner cover. So I`m guessing it`ll probably last a week or so by your estimate. But 3 holes doesn`t sound like much... I guess if it lasts too long I could just make a few more.

I just plain old Wal-Mart white sugar. My mix is: Fill a bucket within an inch or two of the top with sugar, add hot water and stir, ending up about an inch or two from the top. It's certainly not scientific.